he was governor. The time, he thought, had not come for such a movement. But history has its own march, and events followed immediately which led to a sudden change in the policy of Milosch. The insurgents had laid down their arms under a promise made by the Pasha to Milosch that no harm should be done to those who surrendered. The promise was basely broken; 150 of the surrendered prisoners were beheaded before the walls of Belgrade; and thirty-six of the chief of them were impaled on the ramparts of that city. It was only by a stratagem that Milosch himself escaped a like fate. This massacre took place on Dec. 5, 1814; and during the early weeks of 1815 Servia was seething with ill-repressed indignation at the Turkish treachery. One act had done more to ripen the nation for revolt than could have been accomplished by years of plotting. On Palm Sunday a large congregation of worshippers was assembled at the Church of Takovo. Milosch appeared among them; and they did not separate till they had sworn to follow his banner against their oppressors. That same day he was in the field at the head of a chosen band, the nucleus of a new army of patriots. As the news of the insurrection spread, the Servians flew to arms all over the country. Army after army of the Turks was defeated; but Russia was now again free to direct her attention to the affairs of the South; and the Porte found it necessary to make terms of peace. The terms arranged were those which had been previously demanded by Servia and refused by the Porte. They included a concession to the rayahs of the right to bear arms, a right which had previously been obstinately refused, but one without which all other concessions would have been of no practical value. It The gates of Belgrade were now thrown open to the army of Ali, who had been appointed Pasha of Servia. Thither, after some days, Milosch and the other Servian leaders repaired, and a ceremony confirmatory of the Treaty was performed with much display. Milosch and his companions were ushered into the presence of the Pasha, who was seated with a brillant suite of officers smoking in silence on the ground. On his approach the Pasha rose and demanded: Are you Servians vassals of the Grand Seignior?" Milosch replied, “We are. The question was thrice asked and thrice answered in the same terms; and thereupon the Servian deputies were asked to be seated among the others, and were provided with pipes and coffee in token of renewed amity. Under the new administration of affairs Milosch had no recognized position superior to that of the other Servian kneses or governors of districts. But his personal influence both with the Turks and with the Servian populace necessarily gave him superior power, which he took every opportunity of increasing and consolidating. He was the champion of the people against all attempts of the Turks to disarm them or to encroach on their newly acquired rights; but he was not less the avowed enemy of all who sought to encroach on the seignorial rights of the Sultan. His position was anomalous, but it was one singularly favourable for the promotion of his own ambitious design of placing himself at the head of the native dignitaries of Servia. He proceeded with caution, gradually removing from place and power all those kneses who opposed or were likely to oppose his projects, and maintaining the most friendly relations with the Pasha and the Porte. His patient though perfidious policy was rewarded by his election in 1817 as supreme knes. Hitherto the clause in the Treaty of Bucharest, by which the Porte had bound itself to grant certain liberties to Servia, had remained in abeyance. The concessions had, indeed, been made by the Sultan, but they had been made in pursuance of arrangements to which Russia was no party. This was far from agreeable to the Czar, and he took advantage of the European peace to revive his demands under the treaty. To avoid Russian interference, the Porte, in the year 1820, made proposals for a final settlement of the Servian constitution, but the terms, though not illiberal, were not acceptable to the Servians. Their reason was this: the proposals of the Sultan were made subject to the condition that the Servians should not only accept them, but declare that they were satisfied with them, and promise to make no further demands. By attaching this clause to the proposed agreement the Porte hoped to supersede the article regarding Servia in the Treaty of the Treaty of Bucharest. Ranke tells us that in the course of the negotiations on these proposals of Turkey, the Ottoman envoy asked the Servians "What could be their further request ?" and that their reply was "That they demanded their rights, granted them by the Peace of Bucharest." mention," Ranke continues, "a treaty concluded with a foreign power appeared to the envoy nothing short of a crime; he "To therefore called for his horses and instantly rode off. He always affirmed that there were no longer rayahs in Servia: that he had seen none but armed people there." Thus the Turkish proposals came to naught. But the subject was revived at the instance of Russia in 1825, and was included among the celebrated eighty-two points of the Russian ultimatum accepted by Turkey under the Convention of Akerman in 1826. As is well known, Sultan Mahmoud was preparing for war at the very time he was negotiating at Akerman. Crippled by the recent massacre of the Janissaries, he was obliged to agree to the Russian demands for the time being. Unfortunately for himself he admitted this fact in the famous HattiScheriff of December 20, 1827, in which he called upon the Pashas and Ayans of the provinces to arm in defence of their religion and their country; adding, that "The demands made by the Russians last year were on no account admissible; nevertheless, the pressure of circumstances was such that, against my will and out of pure necessity, I was obliged to conclude a treaty that was required for the safety of the Mahometan nation." War broke out in 1828, and ended in 1829 with the treaty of Adrianople, the terms of which were again dictated by Russia.. The provisions of the treaty of Bucharest, as interpreted by the Convention of Akerman, were now at last carried into effect. The firman by which this was done is dated September 30, 1829. By a Hatti-Scheriff of 1830 the details of the new régime were settled. The independence of Servia, as a tributary state, was achieved at last. Milosch was appointed hereditary knes or despot by a Berate issued in compliance with the national request; and his des cendants have succeeded to his dignities. The arbitrary rule of Milosch and the consequent disturbances in the country, his deposition, the remodelling of the Servian constitution by the firman of December, 1838, Milosch's recall to the despotship in his old age, and the events that followed, are matters of recent history, on the details of which we do not enter. It is only necessary to state that the Servia of the present day is practically a free country, governed under most liberal institutions; and that no vestige of Turkish rule or of Mahommedan persecution remains. Even the fortresses have now ceased to be garrisoned by Turkish troops. A tribute of some £12,000 is still paid to the Porte as suzeraine. "Servia," says M. Reclus, "is a hereditary monarchy, with a constitution similar to that of the other limited monarchies of Europe. The prince, or kniaz, governs the country with the advice of responsible ministers, frames laws, arranging their terms with the senate, or council of state, appoints to public offices, commands the army, and signs all treaties. He has a revenue of 504,000 francs (£20,000 or thereby). On the failure of his issue male the Servian people have the right of electing his successor. The Skuptchina, or National Assembly, which originated at the very outset of Servian history, consists of 134 members, one-fourth of whom are nominated directly by the sovereign; 101 are elected by the people. Every man of full age who contributes to taxation is an elector. Thus there is almost universal suffrage. Besides this national assembly, which exercises legislative powers conjointly with the prince, every commune, or obtchina, consisting of associated families, has its local council, whose power is almost supreme in local affairs. It is in these village assemblies that public opinion is formed, and they practically decide the elections to the Skuptchina. Provision is also made in the national constitution for the direct election by the people, in cases of great national importance, of an Extraordinary Skuptchina, composed of four times the usual number of members. Affairs as a rule are, comparatively speaking, well conducted, and one proof of this is to be found in the fact that Servia is the only European power which has no national debt. "There is entire freedom of religious opinion, though the Greek Catholic faith is that of the state. The patriarch of Constantinople is its nominal head; but since 1376 it has borne the title of "autocephalous," being governed by a synod composed of the Archbishop of Belgrade, metropolitan of Servia, and the three diocesan bishops of Oujiza, Negotin, and Chabatz. The metropolitan is appointed directly by the sovereign, and exercises church patronage in concert with the synod, the prince having a right of objecting to any appointment. The high dignitaries of the church are paid; but the ordinary priests live on the voluntary offerings of the people. The monks, less numerous now than they once were, live on the revenues of the monastery lands; but a recent act of the Skuptchina has abolished all the convents except five, which are to be maintained during the lives of the residents. The rents of ancient mortmain lands go to support the national schools. "All able-bodied men are enrolled in the Servian army. But, strictly speaking, the permanent army, about four thousand strong, is merely a framework, ready to be filled up in time of need from the ranks of the national militia. The first corps of the militia, consisting of one-fourth of the citizens between twenty " and fifty years of age, is trained for oppressed subjects of a neighboura time every year, and is capable of ing tyranny. For bloodshed so being immediately mobilized. The caused tbere is the excuse that the second corps is organized so that it intervention might lead to beneficial can be called into the field at a results. But for the petty despot month's notice. In the case of war of a petty district, whose subjects Servia could easily bring into action amount to not more than a third of an army of from 100,000 to 150,000 the populace of London, to involve men. It is, probably, for its size, Europe in profitless warfare is a the possessor of the best and proceeding which will meet with strongest military organization in approbation from no reasonable Europe."* man. Nearly all writers concur in de- There is one excuse for Servia, scribing the Servians as a brave and it is no excuse. She is the race with a noble history, and one mere dupe of Russian diplomatists. cannot but sympathize with them This war is the war of Russia in their desire to complete the in- against Turkey: against Turkey. The “ Bulgarian dependence of their country by atrocities” are the work of Russian throwing off the suzerainty of the intrigue as much as of Turkish Sultan. But when a dispassionate ferocity; and Servia bas been account of the Servian war of the hounded on to her ruin by one who present day comes to be written will crush her when his time comes. their conduct will receive unquali- She obtained her independence by fied condemnation. They were Russian aid, and for Russian ends. aggressors in circumstances where Her army, officered and recruited aggression was not only unjustifi- by Russia, is fighting for Russia able but reckless. Serpia bad no now. By pursuing a peaceful casus belli against Turkey: she had policy, developing her many interno grievances to be redressed. For nal sources of wealth, and eschewher to challenge the rule of Turkey ing the sin by which the angels fell, was on the face of it absurd. Cir. she might have become the centre cumstances are conceivable in which of a powerful state. Her present a great European power might find conduct but cripples and exhausts it necessary to intervene for the her. "Nouvelle Géographie Universelle," p. 290. (Part III. will appear in next Number). CHOICE OF WORDS. By SAMUEL SMILES JERDAN. TIME was when what is called Rhe. contemptuously of what may be toric was the subject of much earnest properly enough termed a cultivated and profound study. Rhetoric, to style. But we object to the study use a definition of our own, is “Com- of composition as an art, and think position as a fine art.” It was the that the practice of the application study not so much of what to say, of the many rules laid down for this as how to say it; and from Aristotle study is a waste of time and labour. and Cicero to Blair and Whately, Logicians are apt to suppose that we have treatises on this subject, nobody can argue unless they know with elaborate rules in regard to the logic, or the laws of argument. So construction of sentences, and use is it with men who have given themof figures of speech, the observance selves up to the art of composition ; of which could not fail to make an they are apt to suppose that the art orator of anybody. Yet, after all, is the all-in-all; that unless the orators are, like poets, not made writer or speaker is able to put down but born, and there is much truth his words in a certain regular form, in the lines that the attempt to convince or persuade “ All a rhetorician's rules is useless. But teach him how to name his tools." A certain class of philosophers hold that all our ideas and all our know. It would not be far from the truth ledge are the result of experience. to say that art employed in composi- We have some sympathy with this tion is akin to artifice and affectation. philosophy. We have sweet sounds The ability to work up & climax first, then we have the theory of reminds one of the expression music and harmony; we have natural “doing" the pathetic; or the plan common sense, then come logic and adopted by the orator who inter- metaphysics ; we know by expelarded his MS. with parenthetical rience the difference in the size and remarks for his own guidance in weight of bodies, then follow natural reading, such as “weep here." philosophy and mechanics; we disElocutionists have, or had rather, cover that it is good to sell at a their own rules about the very deli- higher price than that at which we very of an address. The arms were have bought, then we are told about to be held aloft here, and stuck political economy; we wish to say akimbo there. The absurdity of or write something, and when we this has manifested itself plainly do so we are informed of the inenough now, and it is unnecessary exorable laws of English composito make further remark on this head. tion, and the rules of the rhetori. Suffice it to say that while repu- cians. Yet with all this, logic and diating the numerous rules of the metaphysics, natural philosophy rhetorician, we do not mean to speak and political economy, or even the |
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